"Pay attention to his speech, my King," exclaimed Berthar; "this is the best news that thou hast heard for a long time, and every word is true. I myself saw the land, and spoke with the men. We had ridden northward from the Main, over the frontiers of Burgundy, through barren pine woods and sandy heather. There we looked from the heights upon a wide valley, through which was a running stream, which they call the brook of the Weird Sister, the holy Idis; steep wooded hills, and on the meadows such high grass that our horses had difficulty in passing through it. There I know is a hill-slope, well suited for a King's castle, as from a watch-tower one looks over the valley of the Idis, and over the forest far beyond the Main."

Ingo laughed. "Dost thou also, gray wanderer, hope for carpenter's work, and a warm seat by thine own hearth? Strange is the fate of the wanderer: the Prince sends me from his house, and the peasant offers me a country just when we are again wandering without a hold on the earth, like the clouds which drive about under the sun. Only one thing I fear, thou wise host: I must ride through the walls of King Bisino to the Idis."

"Avoid the King," said Bero, warningly; "make thy way over the boundary; thus wilt thou be clear of him."

"Be not angry," answered Ingo, "if this time I rush into danger like a roving hero, and do not move circumspectly like a settler. I have given an answer to the King's invitation that I would come, and I will keep my word, although he is ill-disposed toward me. Even thou wilt not blame my expedition. For if I now avoid the King, he will learn of my hostility; and when our boys, as thou wishest, desire in the spring to form an enclosure not far from his boundary, his wrath will speedily prepare a dark fate for the settlers." He seized the hand of the peasant, and continued, "In everything else I will follow thy advice; and therefore tell me now how I ought to deal with thy guest-friends about the possession of the land, that we may enter into an alliance for our spring journey."

The heroes bent their heads, and sat long in conversation; while outside the shawms and bagpipes sounded, and the shouting couples went to the dance.